RWD SR20DET Bearing Pics Part II

[Thomas Reynolds]

> Nice call.  Good choice.  I mean, you've got the motor out, might as well
do
> them all right?  And well since you're in there put in forged pistons,
> crower rods, bull nose and micro polish the crank, balance the assembly to
> within .5 grams...er, oops sorry Kojimitis got the best of me.  ;-)

Ha, Yeah right, money is really tight for James. He is DYING that he will be
running a T25 initially while he has helped install, ride in and drive my
Fmax T3/TO4E monsta'. :)

> When doing a cam change I've heard that there is not enough room below the
> lower sprocket for the timing chain to "drop" off the sprocket completely.
> Now I didn't say the chain can't skip, as chain tension has a lot to do
with
> that, I'm talking about letting all the slack drop down into the black
hole.
> It was said to me to just let it fall because the chain will still be on
the
> tip of the sprocket and line back up when you pull it back out.  Of course
I
> never took the chance and bungee cord the cam sprockets to the hood once
> they come off.
> Can you shed any light on this?

Sure.
I have never heard this rumor. But the timing cover has a piece protruting
from it directly below the sprocket, it is actually cast as part of the
cover, that I immediately noticed when we pulled the bottom pans. I did at
the time remember how many times when listmembers did a cam swap this came
up as a possible scare when something went wrong. Let me tell you now, I
know for a fact, that the RWD DET will NOT skip a tooth on the crank as long
as that cover is installed! We just wanted to give the chain slack and pull
the crank out but this piece prevented that, forcing us to remove the cover.

Yesterday we installed all the bearings, put the main bearing girdle back on
(first time I used an angle torque meter; wierd, don't like it) so I take
some good pics of the cover before and after it's installed next weekend for
you guys.

One last thing. Neither my Haynes manual nor FSM stated that you can remove
the front cover without pulling the head. You can in fact do this, even
though it seems you will disturb the head gasket, which it does not. Not
only that, but if you wanted to replace your oil pump which resides in the
front cover, the hardest part would be removing the crank pulley (you have
to pull both pans, and the water pump pulley as well). You can replace it
with the engine still in the car, and it's not that hard. Something to
consider if you have unusually low oil pressure and you think that your pump
is defective. (Not to mention if you wanted to change oil relief spring to a
stronger one to raise oil pressure for demands of a turbo, oil cooler, etc.)

Thomas
'97 200SX SE-R
Fmax Stage II Turbo